


you're a little too much like me, kid

by regrettes



Category: The Prom - Sklar/Beguelin/Martin
Genre: Canon Gay Character, Emotional Hurt, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Fake Prom, Gay Male Character, Gen, Men Crying, but this was intended for barry glickman day during, giving barry some attention and some sadness, i know that you're gonna not like me for this, listen, so here we are a week later living our best life, unrulyheartsweek
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-11
Updated: 2019-06-11
Packaged: 2020-04-24 12:39:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 980
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19173472
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/regrettes/pseuds/regrettes
Summary: Barry doesn't know why Emma being at fake prom hurt him so much. She was doomed to the same fate he was, but it hurt him a little more than he thought it would.





	you're a little too much like me, kid

Barry didn’t know what was happening anymore. Emma had just wanted to go to prom like everyone else and here she was, crying in an empty, grotesque looking gym. It broke his heart in a way he didn’t know his heart could break. He felt like he had failed, not just at getting the positive publicity he craved, but at helping this poor little lesbian. It wasn’t anything he’d really set his heart on doing, but he thought at first that it would be easy. It was a simple task, a little pressure and everyone would cave and she’d be able to go to prom. But between spending time around the community, and around Emma, he grew to actually care. He knew that there was something in her that made him want to just treat her like his own daughter. His little, funky, dorky, lesbian daughter and he wasn’t here in nowheresville Indiana to let something like this happen.

 

She was a sweet girl, and reminded him so much of himself that he couldn’t bare to see her cry. He made his way over to console her, telling her that they’d just go to the other prom and stand up for what was right. But that didn’t seem to work either, she just screamed that they’d already done enough, even though it felt like their work wasn’t done. He looked over to Angie, a helpless look in his eyes and he pleaded her to follow Emma. There was something in him that said he shouldn’t be the person to go after her, even if he wanted to. He couldn’t help feeling like he only made things worse, that no matter what he could have done it would’ve turned out this way. But that wasn’t the worst part of all of this.

 

The worst part of everything was that this girl deserved so much better than this, and it hurt him how she was going to end up spending her prom like he did. Alone, at home, probably with some Ben & Jerry’s and a trashy sitcom. She deserved to be having the night of her life, spending time with that mystery girlfriend of hers. Barry knew, as he stood in the gym watching the streamers slowly fall to the ground, that his work wasn’t done here. He had to make this right, to see this to the end and find a way to give Emma the prom that she deserved. This was too close to home for him, and this girl was a little too much like him, for this to be over.

 

“That’s it! We’re going to find a way to fix this, there has to be something. Even if Emma won’t let us talk to her or help her, we have to find a way.” He looked to Dee Dee and Trent, hoping they would agree with him, or at least seem like they would be willing to help. Trent looked like he thought it might be a good idea, although he still wouldn’t say anything. Dee Dee just shook her head, still fighting with the school’s principal about why she was here for her own good and not to help Emma. Was he really the only one who actually cared about this girl?

 

“You guys are absolutely no help! I’ll do it myself! With Angie!” He huffed, storming out of the gym and ironically, into pouring rain. It hadn’t been raining when he walked in here with Emma thirty minutes or so ago, but here it was, raining on his parade. This just seemed like it was meant to be, this was the 11 o’clock number of his life, and he wasn’t even the one who got hurt here. He made his way down the street, not having a car since he came with Emma. He tried to remember where she lived, but eventually ducked into the motel they were staying at in an attempt to get dry. He pulled his ice cream out of the mini fridge/freezer combo that was holding the TV up. Some chocolate fudge and Golden Girls should help clear his head enough to think.

 

Except it didn’t. He couldn’t clear his head because he kept replaying himself at seventeen, crying alone in his room. His boyfriend didn’t go to prom but he also didn’t come comfort him, they were across his little hometown, watching reruns and wishing that they could’ve had more confidence. But it was a different time then, even if things hadn’t changed in this little town. Setting his empty ice cream container on the nightstand, he curled into a ball on his side. Tears fell down his cheeks, his mind running a mile a minute as the night curled around him. He wanted to help Emma, he would help Emma. He just needed to have a night to let it all out, he was a gay after all.

 

Eventually, around 2 or 3, Angie returned to the room, finding him still laying there, the TV having gone to infomercials an hour or so prior. She sat beside him, pulling the blanket over him and playing with his hair as she lulled him into a more content sleep. He didn’t say anything, but he moved so his head was in her lap. This didn’t bother Angie, she’d just spent the previous few hours doing the same thing for Emma. She couldn’t shake how similar the two were, but she knew that was going to be what would bring them together again. Angie spent time talking to Emma before just letting the girl cry, and she’d do the same with her dear old friend Barry. The others went to the other room for the night, so as Barry began to snore, Angie just smiled, letting the sound fill the room as she drifted off to sleep, her softer snore joining his.


End file.
